The Association of Industrial Wood Shippers of Peru held a meeting with the Minister of Production, Ana María Choquehuancain whichand asked that the fishing sector be declared an emergency, since they currently cannot afford to pay salaries, loans and taxes.
“We ask that the sector declare an emergency because we have to pay a payroll, and the issue of Sunat, which is very complicated. We do not have money to even pay the bank or our salary, much less our installments. We request an amnesty or that the debt be frozen for a period of six months to one year“, he indicated German Orozcopresident of the association.
The manager explained that During the brief first anchovy fishing season, only 20% of the general quota was caught. The fishermen saw almost no profit and were left without liquidity, since in January they requested loans to finance the operation of the sector this season.
“Credits are requested semiannually. In the first season nothing was earned, so we have not been able to pay the July debts and we had to refinance them towards February or March 2024. But how are we going to pay the debt if this season is low?”, stressed Germán Orozco.
Another factor that puts pressure on shipowners is taxes. The leader stated that the collection of all the municipalities that receive their highest income from fishing has fallen by 80%.
They ask to expand the youth quota
Another important order for the Production portfolio has to do withn the expansion of the quota for incidental fishing of juveniles. Although the head of Produce stated that the minimum sizes of anchovy will not be modified, to achieve a minimum income that allows them to survive, the shipowners demand that the limit on incidental fishing of juveniles be expanded.
“We had a meeting with Minister Choquehuanca, who told us that the sizes are not to be modified until there is a scientific study to support it, which is prepared by Imarpe and would take six months“said Orozco.
Given the presence of juveniles, the solution will be the imposition of self-closures by fishing companies. However, if the catch limit for juveniles is not extended, the second fishing season will last a very short time.
“We would like to increase the percentage of youth from 10% to 30%. If we continue fishing like this, as the sea is full of juvenile fish, in 10 days the season will end due to all the closed seasons,” he noted.
Orozco explained that with the limit at 10% they could only reach a maximum of 40% of the general quota of 1.68 mmillion tons, while with their 30% order they could reach 85% of the total.
Source: Larepublica
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